


Half In, Half Out

by whimsical_ramblings



Series: Language Barrier [3]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: F/M, Father/Son Moments, Fluff, Language Barrier, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 02:59:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4462955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whimsical_ramblings/pseuds/whimsical_ramblings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Cell is defeated, Bulma is almost positive that Vegeta never wants to see her or Trunks again. He proves her wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Half In, Half Out

**Author's Note:**

> I've always had this notion that Saiyin children have the ability to reach out to their parents telepathically when they're upset or in trouble from an early age, but they don't really have much control over it, and I wanted to reference that here.

Bulma couldn’t say she was surprised that Vegeta all but disappeared after the fight with Cell was over, but she’d hoped that, maybe, he’d at least say goodbye to her before he left. As it was, it’d been nearly a week since he’d made his final appearance, and the little hope that she’d been holding onto was waning with each passing day. Vegeta wasn’t the type to stay in one place, not when he didn’t have to. She’d wondered if seeing Trunks might’ve swayed him into staying, but all that had done was drive him further away from her. **  
**

Thin, unhappy cries traveled down the stairs, cries she recognized as her son’s, and Bulma marched upstairs to pull him out of  his crib and cradle him against her. She should have known that Vegeta wouldn’t be able to handle something like this. After all the time they’d spent together, she was all too aware of how stubborn he was, how unwilling he was to face his own emotions. He’d never wanted this with her, and Bulma knew she couldn’t make him stay. Still, she remembered the times he had opened up to her, the times when his true personality would leak through the cage he’d built around himself. There’d been something between them, however small it might have been.

Trunks continued to wail against her shoulder even after Bulma ran through her customary list of things that that could be upsetting him, and, deciding that maybe the both of them just needed some company, brought him into her room to spend the night with her. When she opened the door, however, she nearly jumped out of her skin at the shadowy outline that was leaning against the wall near her open bedroom window, and she fumbled clumsily for the light switch. Vegeta’s silhouette was bathed light from the ceiling, and Bulma’s heart rate slowly returned to normal.

“Haven’t you ever heard of using the front door?” Bulma asked.

Vegeta’s brow furrowed as he turned his eyes to the crying child in his arms.

“The boy,” he said softly. “He…reached for me.”

“What?” Bulma asked, confused. Despite all the work they’d done, Vegeta still wasn’t completely fluent in the language they spoke on earth, and his words were sometimes hard to understand.

“He reached for me,” Vegeta said again. “Not with his hands, but…agh! Can’t explain.”

Bulma looked down at Trunks, his small face scrunched up as he cried, then looked back at Vegeta, who looked as though each wail coming from their son was painful for him. She recalled how Saiyins could communicate telepathically with each other; maybe that’s what Trunks was doing, mentally grasping at the bond he shared with his Saiyin father without even realizing he was doing it.

“Do you want to hold him?” Bulma asked. “Maybe it’ll help.”

Vegeta studied Trunks a moment longer, then slowly made his way across the room. Bulma handed the boy to him, carefully, and Vegeta took him from her. Without Trunks to hold onto, Bulma crossed her arms over her chest awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say. Vegeta held his son as though he didn’t trust himself to do so, watching him cry miserably before leaning down and whispering something faintly into his ear, and although Bulma couldn’t understand the words, she recognized them as Saiyin. Trunks froze for a moment, then relaxed against his father’s chest, eyes drooping as he drifted off to sleep.

“How…how did you do that?” Bulma asked, baffled.

“Saiyin trick,” Vegeta said. “Always works.”

Bulma approached him slowly, her eyes trained on Trunks’ sleeping face. “Maybe you could teach me how to do it, too?” she asked.

Vegeta grunted. “Maybe.”

“Does that mean you’re staying?”

Vegeta looked at the ground, grimacing. Without a word, he handed Trunks back to her and exited the room, leaving Bulma with nothing but his retreating back. She sighed and looked at her bed.

“Guess it’s just us again, huh?” she said to her sleeping son. Bulma flicked off the light. At least he’d said goodbye.

Early the next morning, Bulma walked downstairs to grab some coffee before she went to work and found Vegeta sprawled out on the couch, asleep, and still wearing what she’d seen him in the night before. She smiled, and pulled a blanket out of the hall closet to throw on top of him.


End file.
